Kremenets chamber orchestra
String quartet ‘ESPERANTO’ – O.Gonobilin, Paul Traupkus, Peter Martin
BOZHYK DUO
DZ’OB
Alina Dzheruk, Oleksandra Basarab – M.Paganini, Z.Colodub
Oleksandrav Vorobey and Yana Gordelianova – M.Ravel, R.Schuman, M.Lastovetskyi
Anna Ivaniushenko, Natalia Pavliv, Andryi Kushnir – ‘Barocco Highlights’
Vitaliy Bobrovskyi – L.Beethoven, M.Verykivskyi, F.Chopin
Arsenii Stavytskyi, Natalya Zhytnytska, Lalita Melenchuk – L.Beethoven String trio G-dur, op.9, №1, G.Ligeti Sonata for Solo Cello
InStrum Fest Kremenets is dedicated to the Centenary of the great violinist and public activist, Isaac Stern, who was born in this town.
The golden disc of the sun rises from behind the mountains and rays of enchanting light fall on the ruins of an ancient fortress on the hill. Steep slopes, covered with silk grass, made it inaccessible in ancient times. The fortress has survived Mongol-Tatar raids, attacks and sieges. After that it became a stone castle which was donated by a bastard son of a king to his beautiful wife.
All of this sounds like a fairytale but these are real historical events.
In the north of Ternopil region, among Kremenets mountains, there is a town – Kremenets. It is little-known and mysterious.
The first known written mention of Kremenets is dated 1227. This town amazes not with its size, infrastructure or comfort, luxury or pomp, but with the halo of glory, history, rich culture, traditions, nature.
The greatest city decoration is a mountain Zamkova (or Bona), towering in centre with the fortress on its top. According to one of the versions, this mountain is called “Bona” in honor of Bona Sforza (1536-1556), during whose reign the town has become one of the main economic centres of region.
In the first half of XVII century Kremenets was an important center of culture and religion in South Volyn. In 1648 kozaks ruined it completely. That was the first and the last fall of the fortress. Since that time it hasn’t been rebuilt.
Standing on the edge of the mountain Zamkova, you feel amazingly well, you feel so much that you can’t even say a word. The only thing you can do is to stand there and look, look, look… Here it is: the town of power, of glory, of inspiration.
At the end of 18th century Kremenets has become a part of Russian Empire. It was the time when Kremenets thrived in opening Higher Volyn Gymnase with large library (over 50000 volumes) and one of the first botanical gardens. They called Kremenets “the Athenes of Volyn” at that time. Over the uprisal supported by the students and professors in 1834 the Lyceum was closed and its library, gallery, some of the professors were moved to Kyiv, where Taras Shevchenko University was opened. As well as botanic garden was moved and now it is known as Fomin botanic garden.
This town was visited by Taras Shevchenko, Franz Liszt, Honoré de Balzac, Mary Shymanovska. 100 years ago a world-famous violinist Isaac Stern was born here.
In the beginning of XX century Mykhaïlo Kotsiubynskiy, Lesya Ukraïnka, Amvrosy Zhdakha, Andronik Lazarczuk lived here.
The modern history of Kremenets is being created now, with every new artist, musician, writer visiting town.
Welcome to Kremenets, come and touch the history, listen to the birds singing, smell the forbs covering mountains.
How to get?
Kremenets is located 418 km from Kyiv, 201 km from Ivano-Frankivsk, 239 km from Chernivtsi, 71 km from Ternopil, which is quite convenient for the tourists to get from all over Ukraine. The European highway E85 passes through the city.
We suggest to choose the convenient means of travel and plan your trip:
If you travel from Kyiv, Vinnytsia, Ivano-Frankivsk or Lviv, the train to Ternopil is a nice choice. It leaves the capital daily at 06:50 am (№715К), 2:48 pm (№357К), 6:30 pm (№081К) and 8:21 pm (№049К). It departs back to Kyiv from Ternopil at 11:44 am (№74), 5:43 pm (№715 Intercity) and 11:43 pm (№358).
In case there are no tickets available for the train Kyiv-Ternopil, we suggest to get tickets to Rivne (Kyiv-Kovel train №097К departing from the capital daily at 11:08 pm, arriving to Rivne at 5:57 am; tickets) and it is only 88,4 km to go by bus. A lot of buses go from Rivne to Kremenets from 6:05 am till 5:55 pm (schedule and tickets). In the opposite direction – at 3:00 pm on tuesdays, thursdays and saturdays.(schedule). Telephone (bus station in Rivne): 0362 636 914.
You can also get from Kyiv to Kremenets by bus. They go daily from 5:10 am till 11.30 pm (schedule and tickets). Back to Kyiv: from 12.50 am till 11:30 pm (schedule and tickets).
The only way to get to Kremenets from Ternopil is by bus.
There are a lot of them daily: from 5:45 am till 10:05 pm. (schedule and tickets).
The opposite direction: from 5:05 am till 5:40 pm (schedule and tickets).
Quite many regional and international busses pass Kremenets, so it is quite easy to get here from Lviv, Lutsk, Chernivtsi, Khmelnytskyi, Vinnytsia, Zhytomyr and other Ukrainian cities.
Lviv-Kremenets: 7:15 am, 7.55 am, 1:45 pm, 3:35 pm.
Lutsk-Kremenets: 10:15 am.
Khmelnytskyi-Kremenets: 6:30 am and 1:30 pm..
A lot of busses go to Kremenets from Chernivtsi, starting from 4:05 am till 5:45 pm (schedule and tickets).
Ivano-Frankivsk – from 5:10 am till 4:15 pm (schedule and tickets).
Bus station telephone (Kremenets): +38-03546-22244.
Where to stay?
In Kremenets you can most comfortable stay at the complex Panorama. This is a family resort located on the outskirts of Kremenets. The hotel has a summer playground, fitness center, sauna, billiard, bowling alley, art gallery, restaurants, banquet halls.
Booking systems offer other options in Kremenets and the nearest towns – Pochayiv, Dubno, Zbarazh and Brody. If you prefer to stay in a bigger city, the distance from Rivne and Ternopil is nearly the same.
What to do?
Kremenets is a city of exceptional historical value. It has experienced really different times from being a prosperous educational center to very tragic destructive events:
Necropolis:
The city is surrounded by the hills and has really special natural landmarks:
Kremenets is for the ones who enjoy active leisure and provides peculiar opportunities:
We do recommend to stay in Kremenets extra time to be able to visit the other important touristic spots in the area:
Pochaiv – 22 km
Dubno – 30 km
Zbarazh – 50 km
Brody – 60 km
Ostrog – 80 km
Pidgirtsi – 80 km